Suddenly, everyone in the maze received a stream of information in their heads.

"Number of participants who passed the first phase - 1."

"Number of participants who passed the first phase - 2."

"Number of participants who passed the first phase - 3."

Everyone was taken aback. First, because they received such a message. No one was expecting to be informed about this. Second, it has only been one day! How did those guys reach the Formation's Core so fast?!

The reason why such information was released was pretty apparent, though. The Dain Universe wanted to increase the pressure over the participants. The closer the number got to 5000, the more restless the participants would become.

Even though the participants understood this, they couldn't help but still feel like that. Especially since a group already arrived at the Formation's core after just a single day. Doesn't that mean that they are too behind, and a lot of groups are far ahead? Of course, that wasn't really the case; it's just that Krune used his cheat.

Outside, Norzulun looked at Wally suspiciously.

'Could it be that Wally guided Krune? The formations inside prevented any type of communication with the participants inside to happen. It could even be considered another Dimensional Realm altogether. However, Wally was an ascender. He might have his own ways to talk with Krune.'

Of course, he didn't ask Wally directly. First, he had no evidence. Second, why would Wally say it in the first place?

Wally, of course, understood what Norzulun was thinking.

"Don't worry. Even though you probably won't believe me, the truth is that Krune found his way to the core by himself. I absolutely had nothing to do with it."

Norzulun sighed and then kept looking into the competition. It was just the first phase. There were a lot of things to happen in the future stages.

Inside the formation core, Krune, Hanan, and Laka looked around suspiciously. However, they noticed that there were several pools of white light covering the entire place. Other than that, there was nothing else.

Hanan got close to one of them and touched. The surface then rippled as if it was made of water. But it was clearly not the case.

"What are those things?"

Krune and Laka shook their heads. Well, only Laka since Krune is in his wisp form.

"No idea. But as far as I can see, it seems like there is a total of 5000 of them."

Hanan agreed with them. His Divine Sense didn't seem to be restricted in this place, so he could tell how many there were as well.

Laka then looked at one of those pools and said.

"Well, I don't think a puppet will be enough this time. It was clearly made for the participants of the Heavenly Competition. That being said, there is only one way to test it out."

Laka then returned to his human form and stepped inside one of those pools. There didn't seem to be any difference between them, so he just picked a random one.

However, just as his feet went a few centimeters inside, it stopped.

"Hm?"

Laka forced a little, but his feet could go more than 10 centimeters down. The weird thing was that Laka didn't feel like there was anything blocking him. It was as if one of his feet was an air bubble, and the 'water' inside was sending him back to the surface.

"What a weird thing."

Krune and Hanan tried as well, but the result was the same. Everyone then applied their full strength, trying to go down as much as possible. Unfortunately, the furthest they could go was only half a meter. In the end, they could only give up and leave the pool.

After that, they tried several other pools, but the results were the same.

"It seems like we will need to wait until the 5000 qualified participants appear. Otherwise, I don't think we can figure out what is happening here."

"What if the test is to figure out the trick? Wouldn't we be losing time while waiting for the others?"

Krune's group then looked at each and jumped inside the pools again.

Just like that, another day passed in a flash. Finally, the second group appeared inside the Formation's Core. But when the newcomers looked at Krune and the others, they felt that something wasn't right.

"Why do they look so tired?"

Well, they couldn't be blamed, Krune's group had literally tried everything possible and impossible. Still, everything was useless. In the end, they reached the same conclusion as before. They will need to wait for the first 5000 participants to arrive.

Looking a little embarrassed, Krune's group gathered in a corner to rest. The newcomers also didn't do anything since they already passed the first phase as well. Each side kept their distances. However, Krune, Laka, and Hanan didn't tell them what happened.

'We already suffered a lot trying to find a way to enter, now it is your time to do so.'

Sure enough, the new group began to investigate the pools as well. Even though they asked Krune's group if they found anything, Krune and the others didn't say a single word.

Soon, four days had passed since the start of the first phase.

"Number of participants who passed the first phase - 1268."

"Number of participants who passed the first phase - 1269."

"Number of participants who passed the first phase - 1270..."

By now, the cultivators and demon beasts already began to feel the Freezing Energy effects in this place. Also, everywhere they went seemed the same, which gave an unsettling feeling. Last but not least, every time someone completed the first phase, it was as if a knife was cut through the hearts of those who didn't.

Killings also began to happen everywhere as well. There are still three days until the theoretical limit of everyone's resistance. However, if they waited until the very last day to do battle, they might not even have the energy to fight anymore. So groups began to pounce at each other every time they thought their sides were much stronger.

That wasn't all. Betrayals also began to take place. No one wanted to freeze to death, and if it meant to kill the weakest member of your group, then so be it.

Nevertheless, the last thing you will find in the Heavenly Competition are weaklings. That being said, even when entire groups ganged up on someone, they usually would end up escaping after paying some price. Thanks to that, from the 25k participants that entered the Ice maze, less than 1k died so far.

On the sixth day, though. The numbers of cultivators and demon beasts dying and freezing to death began to escalate. And while all of that happened...

"Number of participants who passed the first phase - 3897."

"Number of participants who passed the first phase - 3920."

"Number of participants who passed the first phase - 4023."

The number of positions available to join in the second phase reduced faster and faster. Sure enough, more and more cultivators and demon beasts approached the Formation's Core by the time.

However, only the first ones to enter the place spent their time trying to do something with the pools. Those who arrived later noticed the earlier cultivators and demon beasts were resting beside a white light pool. Other than just casually touching it, they didn't try anything else.

Finally, on the eighth day, the 5000th participant entered the Formation's Core. Everyone could see his happiness for being able to arrive at the very last moment. If not that there were many spectators in and out of the Protection Formation, he would have started jumping right there and then.

At the same time that the last competitor appeared, all the survivors were instantly teleported outside of the Protection Formation. However, it was worth mentioning something here. Almost all the participants who entered the Formation's Core were Heavenly Divine Soul Owners and at the peak of the Divine Path Realm. Not only that, but almost all the 'favorites' were there as well.

One probably thought that this was a competition where the majority had to strongly rely on luck. After all, it was a maze. But the fact is that it couldn't be further from the truth. The powerful teams, who had the power to hold themselves against the majority, forced the weaker groups to share their 'maps.'

That's correct. Everyone was lost in the maze, so the cultivators and demon beasts began to draw their own maps. That was the best way to avoid walking in circles. Those strong teams then used these maps from the other several weaker teams to find their way to the core.

As one can expect, the Heavenly Competition might have luck involved, but strength is still the main factor. Without strength, most of the qualified participants wouldn't be here now.

In the end, of the 25k participants who entered the Ice maze, over 8k died. Yet, Norzulun and the Dalin Universe Management elders were quite impressed with this number. They were expecting that at least half would leave their lives behind.

'I guess that is the effect of the Holy Land. A lot of the participants had been there, so their strength increased by leaps and bounds. Thanks to that, they were able to resist the cold for much longer. With that, they didn't have to start fighting against each other too early.'

Norzulun then shook his head. What matters is that the first 5000 were selected. There is no need to care about the losers anymore.

After that, he connected his Divine Sense with the Formations Core. It was time to start the second part of the Heavenly Competition.